Search What's New

Related Links

Alumni News

Patrick Mather (’89 E SC, ’90 M.S. E MCH), who is currently the Milton & Ann Stevenson Professor of Biomedical & Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University, has been named the new dean of the College of Engineering at Bucknell University effective July 1, 2016. Read the full story here.

Dale Mosier (B.S. ’67) has been named a recipient of the 2016 Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (PSEAS) Distinguished Service Award.

Glenn Bell, architectural engineering, is the other recipient of the award.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes and rewards an alumnus, friend, or former faculty member of the College of Engineering who has donated time, expertise, and energies in the form of outstanding and special service to a department, unit, or to the college.

Individuals may be nominated by engineering students, faculty, department heads, or staff. Selections are made by a committee appointed by the Dean of Engineering, with the committee consisting of two former award recipients and PSEAS representatives.

Mosier, a successful entrepreneur, advisor, and philanthropist, has a long and sustained history of engagement with Penn State and the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM), which was triggered by what he calls a “failed retirement,” and spurred by his own experiences as a youth.

Upon retirement in 2002, while looking for a way to contribute to the world, Mosier and his wife, Jeanne, joined the U.S. Peace Corps and served with them until 2010, working in areas of health, environment, HIV/AIDS awareness, women’s empowerment, and education.

It was during this time that Mosier “gained an appreciation for the power and effectiveness of society’s youth,” through assisting young people of different cultures build their own capabilities and beliefs that they could make the world a better place.

This rewarding experience of serving society was something he could easily relate to, as it reminded him not only of his days as a young adolescent seeking guidance, but also his time as a Penn State student and what Penn State afforded him.

“I grew up on a very small dairy farm in Northeastern Pennsylvania and had really no role models from a business perspective or that had an understanding of how the business world operated,” said Mosier. “Penn State gave me the opportunity both from an education perspective, as well as from a leadership development perspective, to really develop and evolve as a person with leadership skills. It also provided a fantastic technical background through the engineering science program.”

With his leadership work in the Peace Corps being such a meaningful transition in his life, coupled with his love and admiration for the University, Mosier felt it was important to actively support Penn State and ESM for other individuals and future leaders.

Mosier has been highly engaged with ESM’s strategic initiatives to translate new technologies to market and spin off new businesses. Most recently, he has been a strong supporter and mentor of Tony Huang, professor of engineering science and mechanics and Huck Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering Science, and his wife, Lin Wang, since the inception of their company Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies, which was established in 2012.

“Frequently, getting started is the hardest thing to do,” said Mosier. “I’m very proud of the progress Tony and Lin have made with their start-up venture. They would have been successful without my support, but I think I was probably influential in getting them started and providing them the confidence that this was a good thing to do.”

Mosier, who is now a member of Ascent’s board of directors, was instrumental in drafting business plans, developing IP strategies, securing SBIR/STTR grants, negotiating with industry partners, and solving manufacturing issues for Ascent.
“My career has benefited tremendously from my interactions with Dale,” said Tony Huang. “He is very passionate about helping faculty members and students move their technologies from laboratories to market. In the past three years, Ascent has made significant progress and has already established a strong IP portfolio, with nine issued and pending patents, and has secured more than 1 million dollars SBIR/STTR funds. I cannot imagine that Ascent would have achieved what we have without Dale’s unselfish, devoted service.”

Mosier has also contributed his time and efforts to Penn State and ESM in several other capacities. He has mentored and shared his experiences with both undergraduate and graduate students through numerous visits to Penn State; has been a valuable member of the Industrial and Professional Advisory Council (IPAC), including two terms as Overall IPAC Chair in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015; and he established the Dale and Jeanne Mosier Fund for Excellence in 2010. He is also the recipient of a 1997 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award.

Mosier was also involved in several service areas as a student at Penn State that contributed to his leadership skills development. He was president of his fraternity, Theta Xi, for two years; was responsible for the freshmen orientation program; and led the Model United Nations group.

He also credits the engineering science program and his experience with the ESM department as a large part of his career success.

“Certainly, my experience and education through the department prepared me extremely well for my engineering career, but it also prepared me in a way that I could be effective in a general management role and in leading and managing all kinds of technical aspects from a company perspective,” said Mosier.

Mosier, who resides in Vail, CO, is technically retired, once again, but continues to provide service and leadership to various groups. He serves on several business boards and is the program chairman for Vail Symposium—a grassroots, non-profit organization that provides educational programs for the Vail Valley community that are thought-provoking, diverse, and affordable.

All PSEAS award winners will be formally recognized and presented with their awards during a reception on April 27 at the Nittany Lion Inn.

Dr. Corey Cochrane, a recent alumnus of the Lenahan lab group in the Engineering Science and Mechanics department, will receive the Penn State Electrical Engineering Outstanding Young Alum of the year award.

Dr. Cohrane received his BS and MS degrees in the Electrical Engineering department, but his PhD in Engineering Science. He will receive his award and give the keynote address at the upcoming Silicon Happy Valley Conference. For more information on the conference or to register, click here.

“Computers were all the rage when I came to Penn State,” recalls Howard Witham. “My dream job was to work at IBM.”

Howard was bitten by the “microchip bug” and progressed through his educational career at the University doing research in microelectronics, device physics, and materials science.

By the time he graduated with his doctoral degree, Howard realized that IBM would not be a good fit after all. “They were starting to downsize their chip and hardware business and moving toward software,” he explains.

Instead, Howard accepted a position at STMicroelectronics near Dallas, TX, as a process and development engineer. One of his first assignments was to help with the process development and manufacturing transfer of the inkjet chip for HP.

Howard spent the next 17 years at STMicroelectronics in various engineering and operations management positions, including plant manager of the company’s manufacturing facilities in Ottawa, Canada, and Phoenix, AZ. “At age 36, I was the youngest plant manager in the company. No one wanted to go freeze in Canada,” he jokes.

During those years he was also responsible for the facilities operations of eight STMicroelectronics factories in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

In 2009, STMicroelectronics decided to transfer its chip manufacturing business to Europe and Howard decided it was time to move on. That year, he joined TriQuint Semiconductor (now Qorvo), a global leader in scalable and dynamic RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure, and defense applications, as Vice President for Texas Operations. In this capacity, Howard is responsible for the safety, quality, and financial performance of the company’s wafer fabrication facility in Richardson, TX, which specializes in building chips for major smartphone and defense systems manufacturers and employs more than 1,200 people.

A native of State College, PA, Howard says he is a “poster child” for the way Penn State prepares students for success in their careers. “The engineering science and mechanics department was small enough that the professors knew me and cared about me. That meant a lot and gave me the confidence to go out and succeed in the technical world.”

He lives in Coppell, TX, with his wife, Barbara. They have two kids, Tim and Leah.

For a full list of Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award winners, click here.

AECOM recently named alumnus Michael House (’90 E SC, ’92 MS E MCH) vice president for power and industrial work.

House, who also earned an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2004, was promoted from his position as business operations manager to vice president after working for four years at AECOM.

In this new position, he works in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan and mid-Atlantic areas and helps utilities and industrial clients solve complex engineering and environmental issues.

AECOM has the expertise to meet any consulting or project scope, for any power generation technology, on behalf of commercial, industrial and government clients around the world, House said.

The company assists in transformation of the energy sector from fossils to renewables, centralized generation to distributed microgrids and energy storage, he added.

House said his new position differs from his last in that he is chartered to bring the broader capabilities of AECOM to design, build, finance, operate and maintain infrastructure assets across business lines.

He is responsible for developing the strategic direction and new business opportunities in the power and industrial market sectors. His team works closely with U.S. government agencies such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation and USAID to promote clean energy technologies in emerging market economies.

House’s team also meets frequently with its clients to assess their needs and propose solutions, and he said he has been fortunate enough to travel to Africa in his new role to understand how the company can better provide clean energy solutions.

"I look forward to helping our clients respond to the rapid changes within the power sector including large transmission and distribution construction programs, grid-scale solar, grid-scale energy storage and energy efficiency programs," House said. "I enjoy hiring and mentoring new graduates to help our business grow, leveraging their creative ideas. I continue to maintain connections to Penn State to hire the best and brightest for AECOM."

The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory is forming a new research center to enhance resiliency for major disruptive events, such as natural disasters and climate change. The Center for Integrated Resiliency Analyses (CIRA) will be led by ESM alumnus and Argonne researcher John Hummel ('73 E SC, '75 MS EMS). Hummel is a modeling and simulation expert focusing on national security analyses, such as climate and environmental impacts on national security.

Read more about how the newly created center will help officials begin to plan for the effects of climate change on their regions here.

Ned Brokloff (’82 E SC) was honored with the Diamond of Wisdom Award at the Road to THON Celebration held on Jan. 30 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.

The Celebration is part of the countdown to THON weekend and an opportunity to honor extraordinary volunteer contributions. The Diamonds of Courage, Honesty, Wisdom, and Strength – based on the story "Sir Millard and The Four Diamonds" by Christopher Millard – are a few of the awards given to outstanding volunteers during the Celebration.

Ned supports THON in a variety of capacities, including mentoring THON Executive Committee members and student volunteers. His other volunteer roles include being a member of the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society and Penn State Annual Giving Advisory Council. Ned is Vice President of Membership in the Central Maryland Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association. He previously served on ESM’s Industrial and Professional Advisory Council.

Xuerong Xiao (’13 E SC and May 2013 ESM Student Marshal), is recognized in the January issue of SPIE Professional magazine for her work in engineering surface-plasmon-polariton waves.

Under the advisement of postdoctoral scholar Muhammed Faryad and Akhlesh Lakhtakia, the Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in ESM, Xiao authored a study recently published in the Journal of Nanophotonics. The study, "Multiple trains of same-color surface-plasmon-polaritons guided by the planar interface of a metal and a sculptured nematic thin film. Part VI: Spin and orbital angular momentums," was Xiao's senior thesis.

Alumnus John Starr (’90 E SC) recently visited with students in the Senior Design and Senior Research and Design Project II classes. He shared career advice and his "secrets to success," including how to build global teams.

Shortly after graduating from Penn State, John was offered a position with Westinghouse Electric in the Engineering Manufacturing Professional Development Program. He later worked for Respironics, Inc., where he earned six U.S. patents and eventually became director of an engineering and business development group. John earned an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University in 1996.

In 1999, John began working for a dot-com company now called Ariba. He is currently vice president of Global Sourcing Operations for the company, which is an industry-recognized leader in spend management.

John and his wife Margie and father Richard manage a herd of certified Hereford-Angus Beef Cattle on their 275-acre family farm, "Starr Valley Farm."

The evening’s format will be a discussion moderated by Christian M. M. Brady, dean of the Schreyer Honors College, with questions fielded from the audience. The lecture is free and open to the public.

DeCusatis currently is the chief technology officer for strategic alliances with IBM Systems Networking. His work includes designing data recovery systems used by Fortune 1000 Companies worldwide in the event of emergencies and disasters. Those systems include ones deployed successfully in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis in southeast Asia, the 2011 nuclear meltdown in Japan. He also was involved in creating the network powering Watson, the IBM supercomputer that in 2011 won the "Jeopardy!" game show against two of the television show's champions.

He has earned the designation as an IBM Master Inventor and holds more than 120 patents, a number of which are ranked in the top 5 percent of contributions to IBM. He has been recognized professionally with the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award, the Sigma Xi Walston Chubb Award for Innovation, the EDN Innovator of the Year Award, and the Mensa Research Foundation Copper Black Award for Creative Achievement.

DeCusatis is the founder and director of Hudson Valley FIRST Lego League, which helps more than 1,000 students each year pursue their interests in science and technology. In 2012, he was named the Schreyer Honors College’s Outstanding Scholar Alumnus for his professional accomplishments and community engagement.

DeCusatis graduated from Penn State with honors with a degree in engineering science. He earned his master of science and doctoral degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

For more information about this year’s Luchinsky lecture, visit shc.psu.edu/events/luchinsky.